Philadelphia

Philadelphia: the city of cheesesteaks, the Liberty Bell, and brotherly love. It’s also a fantastic place to drink some locally-roasted coffee. We recently café crawled our way around America’s first capital and were pleased with the quality and diversity of the local coffee roasting scene. So if you find yourself in Philly, don’t sleep on trying these five local roasters. …

One of the most rewarding aspects of competing in barista competitions is not the moment in the limelight or even the free swag, it’s the friendships one makes with other committed coffee professionals. We were excited to learn one of our barista comp friends just took an exciting new position with Brooklyn’s Variety Coffee Roasters. We caught up with Erika Vonie to chat about working with a new roaster, competing in barista competitions, and the best place to drink coffee in NYC. All photos by Ashley Revell.

Tell us a bit about yourself. How did you get started in the coffee industry?

My involvement in specialty coffee began when I moved to Philadelphia in 2009 and started …